March 21, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Equifax.com secret question

Kevin Bennett writes in:

I was attempting to retrieve my username and password from Equifax.com. I entered my basic information and Equifax found my account, then the authorization page wanted me to answer the "secret question" I supposedly filled in when I created my account.

Very broken! The same thing happened to me. I tried it several times over the course of three days. I finally had to call them to get access.

Posted by: allie at March 21, 2006 09:38 AM

They could ask you, but then they'd have to kill you.

Posted by: Anne at March 21, 2006 10:29 AM

The solution is simple, use the same nonsense word whenever a site wants a securtiy question. But make the answer not be a possible answer to any question they might ask. Say: goatballs or applespice. You don't need to know the question when the answer dosn't depend on knowing the question.

Plus, no one is going to figure out your secret answer from learning the names of your family members and pets.

It's like having two passwords! Now instead of having to remember one password you have to remember two! What a bother...

Posted by: piklocin at March 21, 2006 01:46 PM

I forget which account it was, but I had one where it had two blanks and you had to write your secret question in one and your answer in the other.

What is the point of that??? It's hard enough to remember the answer when a question's listed.

Plus, I also had a problem with my bank account. The website had kept asking me for answers, and it turned out I'd never even set up any secret questions and I had to call the bank and have them help me get in and to shut off the secret question option altogether.

Of course I have the same problem when I call my credit card company. They want the secret answer to my secret question that I "set up when the account was opened" I have no recollection of having filled out any secret questions/answers when I applied. What makes it worse is even on the phone they wouldn't tell me what the secret QUESTION was!! They would only list what the most commonly used questions tend to be. And I suppose I'm supposed to guess which sounds like the type of question I'd have used...

Posted by: SillyGirl at March 21, 2006 04:16 PM

On the topic of those "security" questions ... sometimes they have clear answers, like "What is your father's middle name?" But recently I was on a site that gave me the choice of "What is your favorite color?" "What is your favorite band?" and some other equally subjective question. The brokenness is, one day I might like blue and U2, the next day it's green and the Beatles. Weird.

Credit agencies are broken. The whole concept is totally bogus. Charging consumers for their own credit histories? Making mistakes which affect people's credit ratings, with little or no accountability? What a joke.

Anyway, remember, your credit report is absolutely free, and they cannot legally require you to pay for it.